


Do These Tacos Taste Funny to You?

by Rainbow_Trout



Series: Whumptober 2020 [22]
Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Cancer, Chemotherapy, F/M, Late Nights, Sad with overtones of hope, Vomiting, Whumptober, chemo - Freeform, doing their best in a bad situation, sick!Casey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27324328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_Trout/pseuds/Rainbow_Trout
Summary: Whumptober Day 22 - a take on poisonedCasey has cancer, but he's going to be alright. Because he has two awesome roommates.
Relationships: Matthew Casey & Kelly Severide, Stella Kidd/Kelly Severide
Series: Whumptober 2020 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953733
Comments: 14
Kudos: 29
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Do These Tacos Taste Funny to You?

Sounds of retching woke Severide up, and he rolled over as he listened. It was coming from Casey’s bathroom – which wasn’t a surprise – and it sounded brutal. _That_ wasn’t a surprise either. Casey had just had an intense round of chemo, and the side effects were well known to them all.

He rolled to sit at the side of the bed, running a hand over his face. It was unlikely that Casey would be stopping any time soon, and even less likely that he’d be sleeping – not if he was this sick. He stretched out his neck, sore from previous days of crouching over the toilet with the blonde, before rising.

His movement caused Stella to stir, and his wife groaned as she woke up. She reached an arm out, blinking up at Kelly as she ventured, “Casey?”

Severide nodded, grimacing, “Yeah… I’m gonna go check on him… he’s been going for a while.”

Kidd nodded, pushing herself up to a seated position. Casey had still been living in their spare bedroom when he’d been diagnosed with cancer, and being the reticent person he was, he had offered to move out. Of course, they would have none of it, practically telling him that he wasn’t _allowed_ to move out until he was better. They vowed to do everything they could to help him, and that included being up at two AM to rub his back.

Forcing out a yawn, Stella stood behind Kelly, reaching around him to pull on a jumper. He gave her a quizzical look, and she just shrugged, “I won’t hang around… but get anything you need… dunno if something needs cleaning… and I’ll set up his bed.”

Kelly simply nodded, conveying his gratitude. By this stage they both knew how Casey acted when he was ill, and what made him uncomfortable. And the blonde would never be _rude_ , but it was fairly evident that he preferred Kelly’s presence. He’d explained it once after he’d been snappy, apologising and flushing as he’d admitted that he hated to be seen like this, especially someone from his own company. Stella understood, at the end of the day, she was still one of Casey’s subordinates. but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to do as much as possible in the background.

She tailed Severide through their apartment, the sounds of Casey’s retching getting louder. He’d been at it for a solid ten minutes by now, and Kelly was impressed at his endurance. They’d been joking earlier that Casey was going to be ripped by the end of this – a joke that had quickly lost its humour after his next round of chemo. Casey had pulled muscles in his abdomen and had spent the next few days curled up in bed, every tiny movement causing him agony. It had been utterly awful on him, horrible to see, and Kelly had needed to take a few shifts off to stay with him.

As they approached Casey’s room, Stella split off, heading into the kitchen to get water and Casey’s anti-nausea meds. Meanwhile, Kelly moved to the bathroom, lightly knocking, “Hey, bud? Can I come in?”

Casey let out a particularly violent heave, whining when he was done, and Kelly took that as permission to enter. Severide braced himself to see his friend, knowing that he’d never be able to get used to the difference in the blonde’s appearance.

Because the blonde was no longer blonde. The chemo had taken his hair and had emaciated his body. Clothes that had previously fitted perfectly, now drowned him, and his hands were like skeletons as they clutched the bowl. Wincing in sympathy, Kelly moved towards him, kneeling down and place a hand on his back, “Alright… easy, bud… easy…”

Guilt stabbed at Casey’s stomach, hating that he’d got Kelly out of bed at two in the morning. But it only lasted for a minute, because then he was doubled over again, coughing up the bile that was flooding his mouth.

It took a few minutes for him to stop, with Stella ducking in and dropping off a bottle of water and the dose of ondansetron. As soon as he’d pulled away, Kelly ran his hand up and down his back, before holding the cup to his lips, “Here… wash it out, bud. Then I got your meds…”

Miserably, Casey nodded, rinsing his mouth out before wiping his wrist across his eyes. He felt as though he should be used to the chemo treatments by now – but he just wasn’t. Every time he was surprised at how sick he felt, and he suspected that part of it was denial.

“Alright… hold this under your tongue, bud… you know the drill.” Severide muttered, having torn open the foil surrounding the ondansetron tablet. Casey obliged, before closing his eyes and dropping his head to his knees.

He knew that the ondansetron worked well, and he’d been having it since he’d started chemo. It did have a tendency to make him tired and dizzy – but then, so did the chemo. And the other anti-nausea meds hadn’t worked as well, so he was willing to deal with the side effects.

Severide’s hand landed on his back, and if Casey had more energy, me might have put his head up and thanked him. Kelly had been so supportive since his diagnosis, and Casey would never be able to tell him how grateful he was. Because while his percentages weren’t bad – and it was likely he’d recover – he knew that he wouldn’t be able to do this alone. The chemo made him insanely sick, worse than he’d ever felt in his life.

It didn’t take long for the tablet to dissolve under his tongue, and Casey sighed as he straightened up, feeling Kelly’s hand disappear from his back. He still didn’t feel well enough to move, but he knew that he couldn’t sit on the bathroom floor all night.

He’d already tried that a few times. Kelly had never let him.

“Alright, bud… can I get you up? Stella set up your bed… you’ll be alright for the night.”

Still as miserable as before, Casey nodded, preparing for Kelly to lift him. He knew what Kelly was talking about. There had been a stage in his treatment where he’d been violently throwing up every night, unable to move before soiling the bed. And, feeling bad that Kelly had kept cleaning his mattress, he’d bought a waterproof underlay to protect it. But it had been uncomfortable, crinkling with every movement, and it had further disrupted his already fragile sleep.

He’d been surprised then, when an Amazon delivery had arrived at their doorstep. It was addressed to him, even though he’d not ordered anything. Severide had seemingly expected it, though, giving him his shit eating grin as he’d told him to open it.

It had been another waterproof mattress protector, but it felt _amazing_. It included its own padding, and Casey couldn’t believe how comfortable it was. Eventually, Kelly had admitted that it was from the firehouse, and that Otis had done all the research.

Which caused the simple mattress protector to have even more meaning – because it was from his _brothers_.

“Alright, bud… up we go…”

He could stand by himself, but it was a struggle. He’d get dizzy, especially now he’d taken his nausea meds. So, he appreciated Severide’s help, gripping his shoulders as the squad man hauled him up, “Thanks…”

Kelly, bless him, just shrugged it off, keeping it light as he motioned to the door, “Come on… rinse your mouth out, and then get in bed, we’ll get you comfortable… hopefully you can sleep the rest of the night. We’ve got nothing planned for tomorrow… though I was interested in checking out some of those Hitchcock movies.”

It was a tactic Severide had used numerous times to abate Casey’s guilt; hinting that he wanted to hang around with Casey rather than do something else. And it wasn’t awfully far from the truth… he did enjoy spending time with Casey. But watching movies had never been something they’d enjoyed… but Casey simply didn’t have the energy to do anything else.

Slowly, Casey swished the mouthwash around, trying not to wince at the pain as it burnt against his ulcers. He spat, before shuffling towards the door, crawling into his bed and curling up. The ondansetron helped with the nausea, but his stomach still hurt. And he wanted to make himself small, as though it would help him feel better.

The side of his mattress dipped as Kelly settled beside him, reaching out a hand and rubbing his arm, “Hey, Case… do you feel up to having a sip of Gatorade? Don’t want you getting dehydrated…”

He forced his eyes open, seeing Kelly sitting over him, hand wrapped around a bottle of purple Gatorade. It was his favourite flavour – followed by red – and was one of the few things he could be convinced to drink when he felt so awful. But it didn’t seem to be as popular as the other flavours, because it was harder to get. But between Kelly, Kidd and the rest of fifty-one they always seemed to have stock.

Tiredly, he nodded, weakly pushing himself back up. Kelly handed him the bottle – watching to make sure that he didn’t drop it – and Casey took a sip. The liquid was cold; it had just come from the fridge, so Kelly hadn’t got it from his stash under his desk, “Stella?”

Severide nodded, taking the bottle as Casey paused. The blonde considered for a minute, before raising his head, holding a hand to his mouth to amplify his weak voice, “Thanks, Kidd!”

There was a pause, before Stella’s voice reverberated back through the apartment, “No worries, Casey!”

Casey then took the time to take a few more sips from the bottle, before handing it back to Kelly. He felt as though he could drink more, but he knew not to tempt fate. He’d done that before and Gatorade vomit wasn’t pleasant.

Pulling a pillow to his chest, Casey rolled back onto his side, closing his eyes. He felt the mattress shifting as Kelly settled in beside him, one hand coming to his back. This was something they’d started doing at the very beginning of his treatments, with Kelly waiting either until he was asleep or feeling better. It had been weird at first, but only because Casey wasn’t used to being reliant. By now, they were well used to it, and Kelly wasn’t worried about staying the entire night.

Besides, it helped Casey fall asleep, and that was invaluable.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long for Casey to fall asleep, leaning back against Kelly for contact. Severide kept running his hand up and down Matt’s back, hoping that his sleep would remain peaceful.

A few minutes passed, before he saw Kidd’s shadow approaching, before she emerged at Casey’s door. She remained silent, waiting for Severide’s nod of permission before moving closer.

“How’s he going?” she whispered, sadly eyeing her captain.

“Yeah… he’s doing better… but think I might stay with him for the night… sorry… it’s just…”

Kidd didn’t need to hear Kelly’s reasoning, halting Kelly’s words with a soft kiss. She knew how hard this had all been on Kelly, she knew how scared he was for his friend… so she didn’t mind when he stayed with him, “It’s fine, babe… don’t worry. I’ll bring your phone, leave mine on… if you need anything throughout the night just text.”

Never the man for words, Kelly hoped that he could convey his gratitude as he nodded and squeezed her hand, his love for her overwhelming. She squeezed back, before disappearing back through the door.

Kelly leant back against Casey’s headboard, glancing back down at his friend. A year ago, he would have been terrified if he knew that this was the situation he was going to be in. Well, he _was_ terrified, terrified that he might lose Casey. And he would have had no idea how to behave, how he would have supported his friend, how he would have supported _Stella…_

But it had all worked out.

It wasn’t ideal, Casey having cancer wasn’t a situation that he would have picked.

But it had all worked out. They were making the best of it, and they were hardly miserable. He’d continue to do everything he could, and ultimately, they’d all be alright.


End file.
